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Life Long Traveler

Travel is a life long passion of mine. I started my travel experience with the classics: Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, Times Square, etc. Let me be clear, I haven’t seen all of the classics. To be honest, I don’t know if I ever will. My favorite travel is exploring the lesser known parts of this world. I love my cities that you would never find in guidebooks. My back alley restaurants and bars. My morning runs that end at new coffee shops with friendly owners. These are the parts that I love to explore.

My parents used to drag my sister to “terrible” places for our summer vacations. Little towns and cities, that no one had heard of. Weather that was not “summery”. At the time I remember resenting it. Resenting having to discover things to do, go out of my way to meet new people and explore the area. But with time I grew to enjoy the slow reveal. Finding myself sad to leave these places, and the potential for further exploration, at the end of vacation.

This urge to explore the minor sites, the lesser known, has allowed me to discover the best this world has to offer.

Traveling with an Autoimmune Disease

Nothing about me is naturally travel friendly, except my height. At 5’ 3’’ I am grateful to have “leg room” no matter what kind of travel I am partaking in. With two auto-immune diseases, type one diabetes and celiac disease, travel is not easy. But it can be done! I have sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti on a brigantine rigged tall ship. I have biked 205 miles from Washington to Oregon. I have navigated numerous foreign security forces and airports with medical equipment. None of it was easy, but it is manageable and it can be done. Don’t get me wrong, there have been plenty of hiccups along the way. But it wouldn’t be an adventure if there weren’t some bumps along the way!

Part of my decision to create this blog is not only document the unique and sometimes sidelined parts of this world that we can visit, but also to share what it is like to travel with auto-immune diseases. Through trial and error I have figured out how to travel with diabetes and celiac disease. I hope my experiences will help those with similar barriers to travel to see solutions. And while I may not have the disabilities others might have I hope to inspire those with disabilities to find their own solutions and join me in exploring his planet in their own way!